Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Stationary Front - Defined

Fronts are boundaries between air masses which are huge piles of air that move as a giant, ameba-like mass - yeah, I know, duh, air mass. Because air masses reflect the part of the planet they form over they are all different, in temperature, pressure and moisture content. As each mass moves it collides with other big piles of air and the zone of their collision is a front and that's where the weather battles rage on the planet (the word front was applied to weather about the time that WWI was being waged along battle fronts…). Usually one air mass has more energy/momentum/push than another and moves into the geography formerly occupied by the different air mass: cold air move in, cold front; warm air moves out cold, warm front.
At some point, all air masses lose their push and are stopped or moved in a new direction by another mass. In the summer, in North America, that stall zone is often the mid-Atlantic and that's what we are stuck in today, a weak, stalled air mass that can't get any farther south than the Mason-Dixon line. North of the line, there are no showers and the weather is fairly cool, dry and pleasant but we are south of the line and in the unstable, interaction zone of a stationary front. If you like the weather you are having today, you probably liked yesterday and will like tomorrow, you like stationary fronts! Most people would not.
Today could be the type section (a geology term used to describe all the rock in a formation, from a single point) for a stationary front: cloudy, humid, chance of rain/drizzle/showers/storms, not a lot of temperature change or wind. Everything is stuck or stalled, STATIONARY! Neither air mass has the push to move the other and until a bigger, badder mass comes in late tomorrow to push it all out of here we are stuck in the swampy mess.
A stationary front in the winter occurs for the same reason as it does in the summer but has even less temp change, usually stuck in the mid-30's - high 36, low 35 - and won't rain or snow and you don't see the sun for several days, gross!
So, what can you do about the gross weather today; nothing! Earth is in charge today and everyday and we will either adapt, migrate or die. Those are the rules, today and everyday on Earth. Get out and enjoy the stationary front, it could be hot, dry and 103.

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